An electrical cabinet accommodates, in a processing plant, a machine or a manufacturing installation, electrical and electronic components, which do not require direct contact with the process, machine or installation. Such components can involve electrical and electronic parts of sensors. Electrical cabinets are, depending on application, manufactured of painted, steel sheet, synthetic material, such as a plastic material, (e.g. when the material must withstand the elements), or aluminum sheet. In the case of corrosive environmental conditions as well as in the pharmaceutical and foods industries, cabinets are manufactured of stainless steel. Closing the cabinet prevents random and unintentional contact with voltage-carrying components; cabinets, which contain contactable parts carrying dangerous voltages, can only be opened with (special) tools (e.g. an electrical cabinet key, for instance, a key having a triangular or square cross section).
For controlling sensors, transmitters are used. Usually, regularly or at varying times, inputs to a sensor are made from the transmitter. The inputs are performed by maintenance personnel. In order that the electrical cabinet does not have to be opened each time, the transmitter is built into a wall or door of the electrical cabinet.
For this, a window must be cut in the wall of the electrical cabinet. The size of the window must correspond to the dimensions of the device. The device is placed in this hole and secured with appropriate mounting hardware. The window, thus, gets completely closed by the front of the device. The electrical connecting of the device occurs on the rear side of the device after its installation into the wall/door.
The window must conform within a few millimeters exactly to the housing size. Otherwise, the device could either not be placed in the window, or, if the window is too large, the housing front would not cover the hole and, thus, water or dirt could get into the electrical cabinet.
Often, the electrical cabinet door is of metal, which means that the sawing out of the window leads to much metal chips, saw dust, falling into the electrical cabinet, which can later lead to problems.
A special tool (metal saw/file) is required for the sawing. The sawing requires care and leads to long mounting times.